


Before it's too late

by Descaladumidera



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drama, Drama & Romance, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 04:22:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6223684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Descaladumidera/pseuds/Descaladumidera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sirius loved once, too, but war is upon them and every day could be the last. You shouldn't wait too long. [Sirius x Marlene]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Before it's too late

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Neither the characters nor the places and all that belongs to the world of Harry Potter is mine. The rights belong to JKR. I don't own money with this fanfiction.
> 
> A/N: Alright, this is my first try at translating one of my fanfictions into English. If there are any mistakes, feel free to tell me, it would be much appreciated! :)

Sirius took a deep breath. He didn't know if what he wanted to do was a good idea. The whole day already, he sat absentmindedly on the small, red-brown sofa in his flat and placed something that looked remotely like a ring, which he had carried with him for years, from one hand into the other.

‘What should I do?’ he murmured into the empty room and exasperated massaged the bridge of his nose with the right hand while the left still played with the ring. With a theatrically sigh he let his head hit the back of the sofa and placed the ring blindly on the small table in front of him.

 

* * *

 

‘ _Hello, Nymphie!’ Sirius shouted, caught his little cousin, who ran to him with a cheer, and twirled her around._

‘ _Sirius!’ she squeaked excitedly and looped her skinny arms around his neck. ‘What are you doing here?’_

‘ _What do you think? I just wanted to visit my favourite cousin and her wonderful family,’ he answered and winked conspiratorially at Andromeda and Ted, who had opened the door for him._

‘ _And I thought you were here just because of me,’ Nymphadora pouted as he put her on the ground again. Laughing he ruffled her green hair with one hand, to which she shouted an angry ‘Hey!’._

‘ _Hello, Andy. Hey, Ted.’ Sirius hugged his cousin and shook her husband's hand._

‘ _It's nice to see you, Sirius. Come in,’ Ted said friendly and Sirius entered the house. He followed Ted into the living room and settled himself on the sofa, while Andromeda disappeared into the kitchen to get something to drink. Nymphadora took the opportunity to climb onto Sirius' lap._

‘ _Uff! Aren't you too big for that, Nymphie?’_

‘ _No,’ she answered, screwed up her eyes, concentrated and shrank some centimetres. ‘You see? I'm still small enough.’_

_An amused snort by Sirius got the child laughing, too._

‘ _Nymphadora, let Sirius alone and go to your room,’ Andromeda demanded from her daughter as she finally entered the living room and set a cup of tea in front of Sirius. Nymphadora grimaced like she wanted to protest, but she settled on glancing angrily, slid off of Sirius' lap and disappeared upstairs._

‘ _You didn't need to send her away, Andy,’ Sirius said and took a sip of his tea. ‘Ah, it's delicious.’_

_Andromeda glanced at her husband before turning towards Sirius again._

‘ _Well, we wanted to ask you, what happened at your home. We didn't witness much of it—they don't talk to me anymore, you know—, so we hoped, you could tell us,’ she began cautiously and it was clear to hear, that she meant their family with ‘they’. Sirius nodded thoughtfully and his first cheerful expression darkened visibly._

‘ _Father disowned me and mother decorated my place on the family tree with a nice burn hole,’ Sirius explained short and crisp. He didn't want to discuss this further and Andromeda and Ted caught on._

‘ _You know, there will always be a place at our home for you, Sirius.’ Ted looked at him in earnest and the unspoken invitation got Sirius to smile._

‘ _Thanks, but I'm staying at the Potters'. James' parents took me in the moment I showed up on their doorstep and we're like brothers anyway.’ Sirius made it clear, that the subject was over._

_The remaining afternoon they talked about more pleasant things than the war or family problems and Sirius was glad to be having a carefree day after all. As the time came to say goodbye, Nymphadora came running down the stairs and jumped into Sirius' arms the second time that day._

‘ _Are you already going?’ she asked and looked at him with big eyes._

‘ _Yes, otherwise the Potters would worry about me. But I'll visit soon and maybe my friends will tag along.’ He casted an asking glance towards his cousin, who nodded encouragingly._

‘ _And your girlfriend?’ asked Nymphadora and Sirius hesitated._

‘ _Which girlfriend?’_

‘ _Mum says, that you're handsome and she's sure, that every girl falls to your feet in an instant. So it's logical, that you have a girlfriend. And I want to get to know her!’ she insisted and he glanced amused at Andromeda, who blushed and hid halfway behind Ted, who nearly couldn't resist to laugh._

‘ _If I get a girlfriend, I'll make sure to bring her around to introduce her to you,’ Sirius promised his cousin and placed her back on the ground. She looked at him with a pleased expression, but it changed into a thoughtful one._

‘ _Am I invited to your wedding?’_

‘ _Umm . . . yes?’ Sirius answered bewildered and stared at her. He could barely comprehend the cockiness, but otherwise she was a Black and had the same cheek as himself._

‘ _Nymphadora!’ Andromeda said and shot her daughter a reproving look. But she only grinned mischievously, took Sirius' hand, opened it and put something in it, that resembled a ring, but was made of paper._

‘ _I made it. Promise to give it to your girlfriend when you want to marry her.’ Sirius grinned._

‘ _I promise, Nymphie. Thanks.’ He messed up her hair again, said his goodbye to Andromeda and Ted an disapparated._

 

* * *

 

A determined expression appeared on his face and he straightened his back. His right hand reached for the ring, that Nymphadora had given him back then and that still rested on the small table in front of him. It was now firmly clasped in his hand.

‘Wish me luck, Nymphie,’ he whispered and thought about his little baby cousin while he stood up, placed the ring in his pocket and walked into the hallway. Without thinking about what he intended to do, he slipped into his shoes and his jacket, opened the door, stepped out of his flat, looked left and right to see if someone was watching him and disapparated.

He appeared not a second later in front of a big house. While he had been at school, he had visited this place several times and had good memories of it. But now his heart leaped into his throat and he swallowed hard. He had thought, the fear would only overcome him because of his suddenly developed plan but he was wrong. How wrong he was. The fear came, gripped him, surrounded his heart and crushed it slowly with its cold, deadly fingers.

The Dark Mark floated over the house.

‘No!’ Sirius gasped and it seemed like he had finally got the control over his body back again. Without thinking for too long, he ran up the small path to the bursted open door, whipped out his wand and stepped into the destroyed hallway.

_Please, don't let her have been at home. Please,_ Sirius begged while he walked from room to room, hoping every time to not see his worst fear come true. He trembled. But he didn't care about enemies hiding somewhere.

His heart thumped hard in his chest as he entered the kitchen. Then it skipped a beat.

‘No!’ he yelled and dashed into the room. He hardly noticed the tears streaming down his face as he dropped down besides the lifeless body of Marlene McKinnon, ignoring the dead bodies of her brother and father. ‘No . . . no, this can't be true! Why you? Why her?!’

His eyes wandered towards the ceiling and he screamed out his despair.

‘Why?!’

_Why?!_ he repeated in his head and let out a sob. This couldn't be real. _How could this happen?_

Trembling and shaking with sorrow he grabbed her left hand with his right. He tried to get the ring out of his pocket, but his hands trembled so badly, it slipped through his fingers several times. Hours seemed to pass by, until he got a grip on it and pulled it out of his pocket.

‘Marlene . . . I— I w— wanted to tell you so much. I— I wanted to t— tell you, that I lo— love y— you. Th— that I want to spend my l— life wi— with you. That w— we pro— probably won't have much time l— left. Oh Merlin, I wanted to tell you _so_ much!’ Sirius wiped at his eyes again and again frantically, but he couldn't stop the tears and his sobs grew louder and louder by the minute and shook him so badly, he nearly couldn't choke out the next words. ‘I love you, Marlene.’

His voice was barely more than a whisper and tears streamed steadily down his face. His hands were still trembling, but he tried to slip the ring onto her finger regardlessly.


End file.
